Is your 16 yr old going to have a job to help pay for the car, insurance, gas and maintenance?

Can you share a car? Insurance will be rough on two cars. If you buy a car for cash you can just get liability insurance and not comprehensive.

I'd start a roth account in addition to your 401k. Anything you put in can be taken out penalty free so it can serve as an emergency fund.

Focus on getting 6 months of expenses in a savings account and seems like you're close. That can tell you what you can afford to put toward a car.

And before that…does the 16yo need a car?

The savings account can be a high-yield savings account at an online back, like Ally.com, discoverbank.com, marcus.com. You open just the savings account (pays 2-3% these days), and link your current checking account to it to transfer money in or out.

Even if she buys a car for cash, it’s not a good idea to only keep liability insurance on it. If she spends 25k, that’s a giant portion of her wealth that would be one unlucky moment away from being erased.

Lol wellllll… yes he plans to get a part time job to help with gas insurance and maintenance but I already know I probably won’t take much, if anything. #badmom

Take it, put it in an account and then give it back to help with college expenses or have it as an emergency fund for him

Very true but I also wouldn't recommend a 25K car in this scenario.

Insurance for a 16 yr old and a male, brace yourself.

This is the best possible solution. It teaches him to budget for things he needs/wants in life, plus you can still be a “good” mom in your eyes. Still, no shame in putting his money towards the bills if you need the help.